Poured into a snifter at cellar temperature. Bottled 12.31.12A - Pours a deep amber color with a negligible amount of head. Clings well to the glass.S - Bright malty smell with a middle of carmel and a hint of apple.T - Tart at the beginning with a malty middle and a hint of booze on the finish. M - Moderately full mouth feel with a nice coating quality and an above average amount of carbonation. O - A pretty good rendition of a wee heavy.

Poured at a good temperature with a smallish, tan, fizzy head that soon settled and no lace. Color is a clear deep mahogany. Aroma is heavy malt and dark ripe fruit. Flavor's a lot like nose, lots of tang, bittersweet, hint of brandy. Body is huge, carbonation a bit sharp, and is very warming. Finish is like flavor, alcohol warmth lasts a long time. Not my fav wee heavy.

Amazingly red color, way beyond coppery; it's a cherry amber color. Handsome head in the Brewery Vivant tulip. Fine-grained spritziness in the mouth. Prickly and sharp mouthfeel, and not so thick on the tongue. Very light on aroma, with a little peaty malt.

Sweet taste with a candy quality. Fortunately the hops add some bitterness, and the surprisingly tart edge provides more drinkability. Just a whiff of smoke in the deep malty richness. Even though this is on the sharp side, I have to give it a higher score for drinkability than the typical treacle bomb in this category.

From the 22 oz bottle purchased at Bottlecraft in North Park in San Diego.

comparison with macpelican scottish style, this has much more going for it. head dies to nothing, clear cherry brown, smell of cherries, plums, leather, tastes mirrors the aromas. mouth feel is a tad thin, but ok. i'd put this in the after dinner category, and would enjoy it. nice work, pelican!

Pours a clear copper with a foamy beige head that fades to nothing. Small dots of lace slowly drip into the remaining beer on the drink down. Smell is of malt, fruit, and caramel aromas. Taste is much the same with caramel and toffee flavors on the finish. There is a mild amount of hop bitterness on the palate with each sip. This beer has a lower level of carbonation with a slightly crisp and medium bodied mouthfeel. Overall, this is a pretty good beer with some solid aromas and flavors.

- Appearance: Leaves some lace in the bottle, not much.- Slightly smoky scent, notes of caramel and toast/bread. Somewhat yeasty.- Tastes of fusel alcohols and apple juice, with modest hops. Most scents are overwhelmed by either alcohol or yeast.- Mouthfeel is very heavy, sticky, with an irritating aftertaste.

Overall I'd say this smells wonderful, and looks good, but the taste is almost exactly the same as Earthquake "High Gravity Lager". It leaves a sticky apple/yeast taste in the mouth and instantly upsets the stomach, which is uncommon for most beers that I come across.

Rich but not too rich, sweet but not too sweet, robust but not too robust- Pelican seems to capture all the taste, complexity, and roundness of the strong Scotch ale even though it is a wee heavy- Just the way we like'em.

Incredible density ensues upon the pour as the beer is deep mohogany and brown in color. it's frothy weight reluctantly allows for its ivory-white head to separate from the malty liquid beneath. Firmly headed with a thick blanket of foam, the beer recedes and leaves well-defined rings of lace behind. It's a handsome looking ale.

Toffee and caramel are moderate as stronger aromas of toast, damp soil, light campfire woods, nuts, and charred dark fruit. A background of malted milk supports all of the wafting aromas and pulls them together.

Malt balanced in its flavor profile, the beer builds a complex malt taste that's not solely reliant on sweetness. Kettle caramelized flavors are deep and toffee-like but not sugary. Lighter tastes of smoky chocolate, charred wood, toasted nuts, burnt toast, and light coffee grounds all swirl in the background. Mild fruit esters of grapes, licorice and cherries rise as the alcohol taste brings a mild brandy taste. Light on hops, only a tinge of woody bitterness stand in the shadows and provide a ghost-like offset to sweetness.

Medium-full in body, the beer's sheer malty textures wants to resonate as being a fuller beer than actually exists. With its low-lying sugary effects, the beer is quick to shed its sweetness although it retains other creamier malty components until late in the taste when the beer closes with a long and semi-savory finish and mild alcohol warmth.

Pelican captures the taste of Wee Heavy reasonably well as you can check off all of the prerequisite tastes that the style prescribes. However, there's something about the depth of taste, richness, and intangible complexity of those time-honored Scottish brewers that make American brewers difficult to accomplish.

Poured from the bottle into a Wee Heavy glass. Bottled 102212 (Oct-22-2012?).

A gorgeous cherry red, almost ruby amber body hits with edges of dark orange copper. Clear. A light tan head that billows nicely and settles to a good puck, with some faint ring lacing. Great looking beer.

For a wee heavy, there is a lot of toasty aroma on this. Dried bread. Lots of ripping grain. Not much toffee/caramel sensing sweetness though, but this grain angle is extremely pleasant.

Palate though surprises. Light and toast aromas bring a good lingering toffee sweetness in the mid palate. Body is full and rich, without much syrup sticky qualities which is nice. Hints a little bit of wet, but it's a great light coating feeling. Light bodied finish lingers with lots of husky toasty bread. Easy drinking. Great balance of toffee and malt grain almost biscuity surprisingly.

Overall this is a real solid wee heavy to be consuming. I like the fact this feels very light bodied, but has lots of big character to it also. A big sweet or large oak or big malt toffee bomb this is not, it's subtle and controlled, really beautiful.

This scotch ale from Pelican has a brown-auburn tone with a thin, sandy head. Its` nose has brown sugar, malts and caramel. A rich aroma to it. Sipping on this wee heavy and I taste caramel, peat, cherry and fig. It is a particularly sweet beer. Mouthfeel is towards a full body with is smooth and drinks easily. A great example of this style of beer from this small Northwestern brewer.